If you like to ride dirt bikes,
living in Michigan is somewhat like living in California for
rock climbers, or living in Tennessee for whitewater canoeists.
Dirt riding is a big adventure sport here. Not only is there
a huge motocross racing scene, but there's also an amazing system
of legal, mapped, marked, off-road riding trails unlike anything
anywhere else. The wooded, sandy, mostly well-drained terrain
is perfect for trail riding. There are literally thousands of
miles of trails through the wooded hills of the northern lower
peninsula, and all across the upper peninsula, of Michigan.

The Michigan motorcycle trail system owes its existance to
a dedicated group of riders who formed the "Cycle
Conservation Club" back in 1968, in response to an announcement
by the DNR that many open riding areas in Michigan were to be
ruled closed to riding. By working closely with the DNR, and
through effective lobbying over the years, the club gained approval
for creating and maintaining the trail system. Through vast amounts
of volunteer trail clearance and maintenance work by club members,
the CCC has gradually extended the system to it current size.

A couple of weekends a month, from May through October, the
CCC runs scheduled trail rides over portions of the Michigan
trail system. This is a great way to get familiar with the system,
meet other riders, and just generally have fun. The events are
usually based at campgrounds adjacent to the trails, and offer
dirt riders of all skill levels a chance to ride well marked
sections of trails in the company of other riders. Loops are
usually set up for different interests and skill levels, so that
kids, dual-sport riders, and fast single-track woods riders can
all enjoy the event. These events are listed in the CCC newsletter
Great Lakes TrailRider.
See the CCC website at
for schedule updates and for other club activities.

The CCC also provides another very valuable service. The
club has compiled a very detailed map book of all the trails
in the system, entitled the Michigan ORV Trail System. This
mapbook is available for purchase at most motorcycle shops in
the area, and also comes with membership in the CCC. The map
key page sketches the areas of the state where the trail loop
systems have been built. As you can see, most trails are in the
upper portion of the Lower Peninsula, and then are scattered
all across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

In addition to stand-alone trail loop systems, there is a
very long, continuous section of trails called the "Michigan
Cross-Country Cycle Trail" (MCCCT). The MCCT is seen as
the dark lines sketched in on the map key page below.

In addition to the bi-weekly trail rides, the CCC offers a premier riding
event that is unique in the country, if not the world:
The
Six Days of Michigan (SDM), which is run each
year in early August. This event draws riders from all over the
world. Starting in the Upper Peninsula, the ride goes on for
six days, eventually crossing the Mackinaw Bridge, and then continuing
in the Lower Peninsula. Riders settle in at a new campground
each evening, with logistical support provided by the club (trucks
carry all the gear from campground to campground).

CCC Map Book of Michigan Riding Trails

Map key, showing extent of trail system

Once you've gone on a few CCC trail rides, and have found
some areas that you'd like to go back to from time-to-time on
your own, the map book becomes a great resource.

As you can see, Michigan offers many unique resources to
someone just starting out in dirt riding. Going on CCC trail
rides is a great way for the new dirt rider to quickly gain experience
in handling all sorts of terrain and riding conditions. Scrambles
areas and open practice days at motocross tracks provide terrain
where you can open it up a bit and build your skills at turns,
whoops and jumps. As you gain experience, you can then decide
whether your interests lean more towards informal trail riding
and woods riding, or perhaps enduro competition (timed events
held on the trails), or the technical riding and competition
of motocross (or maybe all three!).